Java Jive wrote...

I plan to back up to *.WAV files, and scan the cover artwork.

I've tried most of the freeware CD rippers.
For accurate rips then Exact Audio Copy is very good.
http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/
But it is a pain to set up and work with, especially getting it to name
and tag the resulting files.

For a quick and easy solution have a look at Audio Grabber.
http://www.audiograbber.org/
This works well and is easier to set up than EAC but is still fiddly to
use.

I've ended up using a combination of Windows Media Player 11
and Mp3tag http://www.mp3tag.de/en/

WMP will name and place files as wanted, automatically adds album
artwork and is a pretty decent player and music organiser. It is
rumoured to use the All Music Guide to get the album info and this
works reasonably well but is very USA centric i.e. bog standard UK
albums are sometimes labelled (Import) etc. the biggest drawback is
that it is pretty hopeless at getting info for classical music, which
doesn't bother me much as I haven't ripped any of my classic stuff,
sacrilege:-)

Mp3tag is an essential bit of kit for tidying up and for renaming,
tagging and adding album artwork to albums and music for which the info
is not in any online database and downloaded music such as that from
Jamendo http://www.jamendo.com/en which is an endless source of
enjoyment.

--
Ken O'Meara